Issue Position: Spreading Marriage Equality Across the Country

Issue Position

A professor of constitutional law and a passionate champion of civil rights and civil liberties for all, Jamie not only campaigned on marriage equality in his first run for office in 2005 but led the Senate floor fight for marriage equality both in 2011 and 2012, fending off hostile floor amendments, carefully explaining the constitutional underpinnings of the legislation, and vividly describing the situation of gay and lesbian couples experiencing discrimination under the old law. Jamie's eloquent advocacy on the Senate floor (at the time he was undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer) was profiled in the Montgomery Gazette, which stated that Raskin was a "devoted ally" of same-sex marriage supporters. Jamie went on to be the floor leader for the Fairness for All Marylanders Act in 2014, championing the rights of transgender Marylanders to be treated equally in housing, public accommodations, and the workplace. Jamie won awards from Equality Maryland and the ACLU for his central role in passing marriage equality and transgender civil rights in Maryland, and Jamie even rode as a "Hero" in the 2013 Pride Parade Celebration in Washington. As a member of Congress, Jamie will work for equal rights for LGBT Americans in every domain of social and economic life, and he will be a fierce opponent of any right-wing attempts to block progress on LGBT rights.

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